Went Left, Mind Flayers
by Arashi Leonhart
Summary: Both Shiki and Shirou's high schools share a senior trip destination. Unfortunately, that destination is into the home of a crazed magi and his demonic aberrations. When separated from the rest, Arihiko, Ayako, Shinji, Satsuki, and Issei must somehow band together to survive a land of horrors. Post-Ciel, Post-UBW.
1. Still Seeing Unicorns

Went Left, Mind Flayers

* * *

Chapter 1

Still Seeing Unicorns

* * *

Something about today was different, Arihiko decided. There was something in the air, he thought, some strange beat by which the day turned. Or something he might have forgotten. It nagged at the corner of his mind.

It was only just after four in the afternoon, not even time for dinner, not even anywhere near dark yet. As he was not a part of a club, the only after-school activities he regularly pursued were in the company of friends. However, as of recent, Shiki had been spending more and more time being lovey-lovey with Ciel, so the regularity of goofing off after school had died a silent and unnoticed death. Not that Shiki could have done much even when he did not have a love life since his little sister was an iron fist and wanted her brother home as promptly as possible.

So the off-feeling had nothing to do with going home early, at least. Though he often just went to the arcade or shopping center and wandered aimlessly, it was not irregular for him to just go home and laze about. His sister would not be home for hours, so he would go unmolested for a while. And he _never_ felt like studying.

"Should've gotten food," he said, plugging his keys into the door to the apartment. "Don't really feel like take-out." He wondered how far that would go, though, since today was a Tuesday. Tuesday was sales day for the local market. By the time he worked up enough effort to head out into town, the stores would be doing end-hour markdowns and he didn't really want to contest with the old hags that clogged up the stores then.

"Dahahahahahaha~"

Laughter bubbled out into the hall the moment he opened his apartment door. The sound of a laugh track on a game show was enhanced by the girly laughter emanating from in front of the television.

"So that's it," he said, not really sure if he was complaining or in apathetic acceptance. The ghost-spirit-beast-girl-thing was back.

After kicking off his shoes and without thinking much about it, he went and retrieved two of the juice boxes he kept in stock on the occasion that the animated weapon came calling. He then lazily meandered into the living space and plopped onto the couch, only acknowledging the blond girl in front of the television by dropping the juice box into her lap. The spirit happily accepted it, somehow managing to hold the box and perforate the seal with the straw without the use of digits.

Arihiko vaguely took in the stupid game show she had on, some standard variety show that had contestants playing an oversized version of whack-a-mole. When the next player began their round, he kicked his feet up and brought his heels down onto the head of the little girl like he was playing. "You, trespasser. Next time I see you in here without permission, I'm getting one of those hammers, too."

"Hee." Nanako made a more subdued giggle from her earlier outburst. The blond fluff that hung from her lower back pinwheeled through the air a couple of times. "Master has said that too. She used a _real_ hammer."

The high schooler otherwise ignored the spirit, too lazy to truly complain, too brain-numbed to think of anything proactive to do, whether it was to rid himself of the nuisance or figure out some kind of entertainment that involved her. He simply let the dull comedy on the show play out, idly hoping his feet smelled enough to insult the beast-girl-ghost-spirit into doing something on her own.

His grand plan failed as Nanako allowed herself to be a footrest so long as the show was on. He chewed on his drink straw alone for a while before piercing it into the box without removing his hands from the box. He sipped and evaluated the qualities of apple juice versus fruit punch.

"Arihiko-san, what do Master and Shiki-san do at love hotels?"

Arihiko would have done a spit-take if he weren't drinking from a straw. Instead, the action rebounded on itself as neither air nor liquid could get out of his mouth and back into the drink box at the same time, so he ended up choking instead.

The television show had gone to commercials. The Softbank dog once more presided over a multinational family. Nanako was watching intently, tail straight up.

With no idea how this conversation had come to be, he said, "Huh?"

"Master. Shiki-san. Love hotels. What for?" She did not look away from the television.

"Uh…so," speaking of television, he suddenly understood that cliché he saw often enough from it, where a parent would use elaborate and overly stupid metaphors to explain stuff. "They…uh, damn. You know the birds and the bees…right?"

"Bees suck. Just because you want some of the honey they make they'll go and sting you all over…"

"Er…about that." He could not believe he was about to say this. "Love hotels…are where bees go…to, uh, sting people."

Finally, the spirit-ghost-girl-beast looked up at him, her drink still clasped with her hoof-hand. "What are you talking about?"

Feeling heat rising in his face but absolutely refusing to let it show, the teenager scowled. "I mean, bees are people! Keep up if you want me to explain anything!"

Nanako's eyebrows alternated up and down as she attempted to piece that together. She frowned, considered for a long moment, then seemed to come to a sudden conclusion, grinning brightly. "Oh, you mean sex. So they go to hotels to fuck." She appeared proud of having deciphered Arihiko's nonsensical explanation.

This time, the redhead was still in the process of raising his drink straw to his mouth. He slowly set his drink down without taking a sip and looked quite pleased with himself. "…Yeah," he mumbled. "That's what they do." He failed to resist the urge to place his face in his hand, however. "How does a kid like you know those words?"

"Arihiko-san really is an idiot sometimes. I told you, I'm a lot older than you are. I just don't age." She gave a shrug. "Besides, I heard Master say it before. Over and over. She was screaming, in fact."

Arihiko pinched the bridge of his nose like it could ward off the explicit images running through his head. It did not help at all.

"So why a hotel? Isn't that expensive?"

"Tohno lives with his family, you know? Probably doesn't want his little sister walking in on him."

"Master's place is small, but she doesn't live with anyone else but me," Nanako said. "I don't think they need to go out like that when Master's place is just fine."

Arihiko eyed the beast-spirit-ghost-girl and wondered whether he should point out the obvious. He decided it should just be said now before she got any wrong ideas. "_You'd _be there, dumbass. Pretty sure they don't want you in on their lovey-lovey time."

Nanako blinked. "But Master treats me as part of the furniture usually—"

"You're also another girl. I don't think your Master would want another girl in on what she does with Tohno…" he felt like adding something like _the bastard_, but decided he'd just sound jealous then. "Tohno'd probably be embarrassed too. I think."

"Maybe," Nanako said, sucking on her drink straw in thought; the box was apparently already empty, as it made an obnoxious slurping noise. "I 'ppose."

Their exchange hinted at the reason Nanako was at his place, somewhat—if Shiki and Ciel were in fact getting busy regularly, Nanako might have decided to get out. Arihiko himself felt that way occasionally at school—his friends' behavior sometimes got almost too cutesy for him to tolerate. It did not explain, however, why she would come here if they had decided to venture out to a hotel to have privacy. He decided against voicing that, however, since he had a suspicion it would invite more trouble. Or at least, more annoyance.

When she kept quiet long enough for the show to return and go through an entire contest, Arihiko allowed himself to relax a bit and return to his earlier musings: what to do about food. Now he would have to either get enough food to also feed the intruder or he would have to put up with her whining if he did not. Take-out was now sounding expensive, but he now felt even less drive to muster up motivation to go to the store himself. Especially if that meant leaving Nanako alone in his place once more. Even if he trusted her not to steal stuff, it was just not right, his space, so invaded.

"So, I heard your class is going somewhere?"

Dully, Arihiko returned to chewing on his straw, eyes fixed on the television. Already he was feeling overtaxed by this one's presence. "Where'd you hear that?"

"Master took Shiki-san to the love hotel because they're not gonna be together this weekend."

"Something like that. It's our senior trip." He eyed the apparition warily, his own curiosity getting the better of him. "Senpai went on one too, you know. She didn't take you?"

"Feh." Nanako stuck out her tongue. "Master said something about wanting to separate me from her school life or something like that."

"Makes sense." Arihiko nodded to himself. He bet Shiki was a bit of the same way, from the bits and pieces he had gathered about what exactly set Shiki apart from the rest of the school. "Nobody'd want to take care of someone like a bratty little kid when they're supposed to be vacatio—"

"So, if your class is going somewhere, could I go along?"

Arihiko cursed. He had a feeling the conversation was going in that direction, had a feeling this might be why she was here when Shiki and Ciel were out to begin with. "No."

"Pleeeeeaaaaase? I'd be good! I wouldn't do anything wrong!"

"No, I mean, literally, you obviously _can't_ go. You're not in my school, or my class, or even, you know, _real_." He did not mean that quite the way it sounded, though he figured it got the point across.

Nanako's tail was wagging instead of drooping; this was not good. "Of course I can. Remember, it's not that everybody can actually see me. You're just special 'cause you understand strange stuff. And 'cause you bled all over me that one time."

Apparently she decided to get him back for the "real" jab. If his sister had walked in at that moment to hear the "bled all over me" comment, he was sure she'd have him committed to a facility someplace for sexual deviants or something. "Then you can't go 'cause I'm not feeding another mouth while I'm there. Or talking to something that nobody else can see." Because even if he explained that one to his sister, if she got wind of that, probably the same thing would happen. He took comfort in all of this that if Ichiko got rid of him, she'd probably be up to her nose in junk piled around the apartment within a week.

For a moment, he puzzled over why exactly both he and Shiki were, in their own ways, whipped by their family.

"Weeeellllll, if I got to go traveling a bit, I could do without the food," Nanako said, one hoof to her chin in thought. "I don't actually need to eat that much, it's just kind of habit."

Arihiko's eyebrow twitched.

"And I can be quiet when I wanna be. I mean, I'm pretty silent when Master's off fighting and all. It is pretty important to not be distracted when doing our job." She stared at Arihiko intently for a moment, eyes squinting. "And for you, school'd probably be your job. So that's important."

There was an impending headache in Arihiko's immediate future.

"So, can I come along? I proooooomise that I won't get in the way."

He looked at the girl-spirit-monster-ghost with an annoyed glare. "There's no way you'd not get in the way. You know how these things go on television. I say yes, and all hell will break loose no matter what. No, no, no, we're not talking about this. You just sit down and watch your show and then you go bug your Master about how she didn't take you and that she ought to fix that." Looking proud with himself, he added, "In fact, you could do that while we're gone. It'll give you both something to do."

"But Master's no fun when she isn't with Shiki-san! Total stick in the mud! At least Arihiko-san, you know, talks! And not all about baking, or cosplay!"

Arihiko scratched his head at that, trying to reconcile just exactly what it was his beautiful senpai was like when nobody was watching. "No. You're not going. No can do."

"Yes!"

"No!" He decided he would head out to get dinner, dropping this one off at her Master's place first. By the tail.

"Yes yes yes!" Said tail pinwheeled.

"No, no, no!"

* * *

Arihiko never had issue with skipping classes or skiving off his work every once in a while. He never felt guilty on the occasion that he sneaked into a movie or hung around an arcade when he had no money. Perhaps owning to his own strange history, he just did not feel the kind of fear or rush from doing such things most delinquents might get addicted to—it was just something that he did when he was bored and he never actually had a problem going either way.

"Class, over here!"

Despite all that, he could not help but look over his shoulder this day. As the students all swarmed the train platform at the behest of their homeroom teacher, Arihiko nervously glanced this way and that, still convinced that everything would come crashing down at any moment.

"I'm telling you, nobody else can see me!" Nanako said for the third time.

Even Arihiko did not exactly "see" her per se. Since meeting up with him on the way to the station, the spirit-animal-thing had truly taken on a ghostly form, almost transparent, like a mirage or strange hallucination. If he did not look at her for a minute or two, he could actually lose track of where she was, her presence was so faint.

Still, it did nothing to settle his mind. He was sure one of two things would happen:

1) Someone would manage to see her, question the additional person who only seemed to communicate with Arihiko, and then the entire class' eyes would go to him, or

2) He would be caught talking to thin air, inviting a question from the teacher or rumors from the students that would somehow complicate his life.

He did not exactly care about the students themselves—he and Shiki already made something of an outsider clique that had little to do with the rest of the school body—but he rather liked things plain and simple. Inviting rumors of insanity was not a simple issue. Especially if the teachers thought there was something to it.

His attempt to get rid of Nanako was thwarted when his sister had returned home early that evening. For some reason completely above his head, the two of them got along well and always ganged up on him when in the same vicinity, so his attempt to just shoo the spirit back home did not go unchallenged. When Nanako had brought up the school trip and her desire to go, Ichiko had, in ways that broke his brain, agreed to the idea, even inviting up ideas about what to do and where to go.

"Since we know you and Tohno'd never figure out something intelligent to do. You'd just loiter around all day until it was time to eat," Ichiko had said.

"Buzz off, that's our choice."

"'Sides, what is it with denying a girl the chance for a trip? Aren't you a man? Shouldn't you be excited about the idea? Maybe you could kick your roomie out for a couple of hours and really grow up."

"That's not—"

"Or are you the kind of man that makes girls cry?"

At that, Nanako had of course played her part by immediately bursting into tears.

They argued over dinner—he'd resorted to take-out in the end—and had only managed to discover his battle was an uphill one. By the time Nanako had returned home of her own accord, the deal was set, and she would be accompanying him on the class trip whether he wanted her to or not.

Arihiko decided that he would begin to keep a lookout for a man, any man, that he could someday dump his sister off onto so he never had to deal with her again. Of course, he was certain nobody in a hundred kilometer radius was that desperate for female company.

He spotted Shiki making his way onto the platform, late as usual. The dark-haired boy seemed both only partially awake and unusually dull in the eyes; Arihiko thought that this one was in fact desperate for female company, just not with his sister. Even at school, the guy was a little too lovestruck sometimes.

"Three minutes 'till we leave. Cutting it close," Arihiko said.

Shiki yawned. Twice. "Almost overslept." His voice fell to a stage whisper. "Uh, what's Senpai's partner doing here?"

Arihiko smacked himself in the face. Of course this guy _would_ see her. "Just ignore her. That's what I'll be doing."

They both looked at the weapon-girl, who regarded them with a shrug. Somehow, though, true to her promise, she refrained from speaking—though her lips formed a strange, cat-like grin that spoke of not keeping to her guns at _some_ point. Probably at the most inconvenient time.

"Tohno's here?" the teacher asked. "Good. Get on board, everyone."

The train ride was mercifully uneventful. When Arihiko gave a short explanation to Shiki over Nanako's presence, Shiki had accepted it with a shrug. "I'll just, um, pretend I don't see anything. Right?"

Nanako had nodded at that, amazingly silent the entire time; part of which must have been the preoccupation of watching the scenery out the window, even though it went by fairly fast due to the bullet train's speed.

Kanazawa was one of those old-time cities that had been spared during the war. In many ways it was a cheap alternative to a location like Kyoto for a high school senior trip. Arihiko himself did not have any specific attachment to the prospects of their visit; he just did not want to be left out. He thought that Shiki might have been marginally more interested in some of the traditional locales—Shiki always struck him as something of an old soul in that way—but the bespectacled boy was clearly preoccupied with being separated from his girlfriend, not taking in his surroundings but staring off into the distance.

"Man, you're even more spacey today," Arihiko said. "Not that I can fault you, but, at least pretend like you're here."

"Shut up. Three days feels like a long time to me."

"If you spend three days like this, then yeah, it's gonna be too long." He spared a glance at the spirit that followed them, who was looking up at him with that same cat-grin as before.

Definitely too long.

* * *

To be continued.


	2. Double Bull's Eye

Chapter 2

Double Bull's Eye

* * *

The senior trip was the pinnacle of a Japanese high school student's life. It represented many things: the last bit of teenaged irresponsibility before diving into the professional world, the last grand adventure for friends and peers before separating for work or college, the last major event they would experience before graduation, and of course, the last chance to screw around with their high school instructors and make their lives miserable.

Nobody confessed outright, although it was pretty clear who was responsible. Like school festivals and club events, the arrangements for the class trip had been handled by the students. Students had broken into teams to figure out the train tickets, tour guides, restaurant booking, and of course hotel arrangements.

Of course, the advisability of putting five boys in charge of the latter without supervision was not the best idea their homeroom teacher had.

"I'm so terribly sorry," the teacher kept saying to the hotel staff. Over and over.

The traditional Japanese inn that had been their destination was, at least, large enough to house the entire class and more. Unfortunately, the students in charge of booking had misinformed the staff as to the number of people that would be in attendance. They only booked two large rooms—barely enough to fit the entire class in, and their class had boys outnumbering girls. The joke being, of course, that if the teacher was going to be fair about the sleeping arrangements, three or four boys would have to be roomed with the girls.

The punchline to the joke: the entire remainder of the inn was also booked.

The clowns responsible had jumped at the opportunity: when the inn staff had questioned over the phone whether they represented other students from Fuyuki, it became clear that another school was sending their students on a trip to that very location and had already booked part of the inn. If it was the same school represented, it would of course be easier to accommodate the guests in case the sleeping arrangements were not ideal numerically when they arrived.

"'Course," Arihiko said, "at this rate, Minato and Nakajima are gonna be dead anyway, so that'll fix things a bit."

"I wonder if they actually thought it through," Shiki said, his voice deadpan. "Great idea, completely memorable, only one _minor_ flaw: there was a single group in charge of hotel reservations. Not like they had any chance of being the ones in with the girls when you think about it for more than five seconds."

The duo stood off slightly from the rest of the class as they waited outside, distinctly off to one side of the courtyard to the front of the inn. The Fuyuki class that had booked the remainder of the hotel stood off to the other, clearly unsure what was going on, talking amongst themselves.

For the most part, anyway.

"So all this for the chance to inconvenience you girls? How terrible. I'm sure this can be resolved if our class gives a helping hand."

He was one of the Fuyuki students, with dark hair in that ruffled, wavy form that somehow looked elegant in how unkempt it was. He also had one of those kind of voices that sounded intelligent no matter what it was he said. Coupled with the smile that must have been perfected for hours in front of a mirror, he came across entirely too understanding and helpful. He addressed the group of girls that included the class representative—meaning the group least likely to interact with Arihiko and Shiki—but his presence was just enough that everyone in the class took notice.

Apparently, the player's actions were not unnoticed by his own class representative either. "Matou-kun, please stop your amorous habits. This situation is complicated enough as it is." In contrast to the player, the Fuyuki class rep had a stern gaze only enhanced by the set of glasses he wore. "Let the instructors handle it."

"Not everyone likes to be by-the-book, Ryuudou-_kun_," the player replied, emphasizing the form of address sharply. He had the perfect pitch to come across as absolutely bratty.

"Maybe they'll punch each other out and we'll get a show," Arihiko said, elbowing Shiki. When there was no response, Arihiko glared at his friend only to find Shiki staring off into the distance, his interest in the situation far gone. "You are so whipped."

Shiki scowled; at least he was still listening to some of it. "Hey, valid thought this time, since I'm sure senpai would have this situation all under control if she were here."

Arihiko did not buy it. It still sounded like an excuse.

Some of their classmates were starting to look agitated. Between the unfamiliar surroundings, sore feet from walking a large portion of the day, and the insufferable smile that Fuyuki student was giving some of the prettier girls of the class, a sense of impending trouble began to hover around many of the boys in class. Many sat hunched together, casting furtive glances over shoulders at the one called Matou, and if eyes were lasers the player would probably have been struck dead a dozen times over.

Oddly, as she approached, Satsuki Yumizuka was not one of them the flirt approached. Arihiko briefly wondered at that, since he considered her one of the cuter girls in class—though recently she had started to come across as somewhat more apart from the others in ways he could not explain. What was it they said girls do? Bloom, or something like that? "So where did the two of you go when we all split up?" the girl asked, glancing about before settling her gaze on them.

"Eh." Arihiko shrugged. For the first time since arriving at the inn, his gaze wandered to where the ghost-girl-spirit-thing was wandering in amidst all of the other students, watching them with a strange curiosity. The afternoon had actually involved Nanako asking to see various things around the area of the city they were in, and as he was too lazy and Shiki too apathetic to decisively go anyplace themselves, they had obliged the horse girl's whims. Arihiko was not actually certain what all they had done, since he had only paid half a mind, the other half attempting to make sure he did not come across like a crazy person talking to thin air. "Nothing interesting, if you wanted ideas."

Satsuki let out a long sigh. "It's a nice place, but not really much different from home, besides all the older buildings." The girl glanced around again. A bit of color touched her cheeks—Arihiko thought she looked a little pale otherwise. "Tohno-kun, are you feeling okay? You look a little tired."

Before Shiki could respond, Arihiko snickered and flung his arm around the smaller boy. "Guy's been all 'oh senpai, I luv-luv you, and miss you soooo much, and oh wherefore art thou senpai' all day. Kinda gross, really."

Dull-eyed, Shiki said, "Remove thine arm, accursed Tybalt, lest thou lose it."

"Huh, so you were paying attention in lit class. Damn."

"I could say the same."

Satsuki watched their exchange, eyes flicking back and forth, looking rather confused. Instead of attempting to follow their train of thought, she sought to change the subject. "Think we'll be waiting out here much longer?"

Shiki gave a noncommittal shrug, throwing Arihiko's arm off his shoulders. "The teacher won't let us stay out here too long. My guess is we'd go someplace else if it gets too late without some solution."

"Least it's sorta nice out," Arihiko said. He grinned slyly at the girl. "Why, don't like being in the dark when everything looks all old fashioned out here?"

It did appear as if Satsuki was significantly more nervous than usual. She hunched in more than usual and seemed preoccupied with looking over her shoulder. "I just have a strange feeling is all."

"Probably Mister Smooth over there giving you the eye. I think he's systematically working his way to every skirt in our class," Arihiko said, motioning over to the player from Fuyuki.

"Joining in with the rest?" Shiki asked, his tone still half-disinterested. "Try not to sound so disappointed he beat you to the punch. It is a class trip, after all."

Arihiko's grin widened and he forced his arm back around Shiki's neck before he could attempt an escape again. "Hah. Don't worry, Tohno, I wouldn't abandon you for them."

Both boys missed the extremely suspicious look Satsuki gave them.

"Although he's got something of an idea," Arihiko continued on, ignoring Shiki's struggle to be free of his neck-lock. "Maybe it's missed on a spoken-for guy like you, Tohno, but chancing upon a bunch of nice-looking girls like this, right when everyone else is probably busy with all the unrequited crushes everyone has that might go unnoticed 'fore we graduate?"

"You'd really follow that guy's example?" Satsuki asked, looking disappointed in man's baser instincts and the idea that Arihiko might be subject to them after all.

"Pff, not like that, no." He ignored the tap-out Shiki was giving his arm—he was well-rehearsed in his holds and knew how much Shiki could tolerate. The boy was bluffing him. "But no guy is immune to taking a look. Even the ones moaning over there are checking out the Fuyuki girls."

"I wouldn't," Shiki gasped out.

Once again, both boys missed the dejected look Satsuki made at Shiki's response.

Arihiko rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but that's 'cause Ciel-senpai is just so much better than anyone else that she's probably ruined anyone that's ever fallen for her. Or because you're a freak. Actually, I'm not sure which one it is this time."

"Least I know that means you haven't fallen for senpai," Shiki said. He struggled with a few words—Arihiko's elbow was determined to be in his way.

"But I guess," Arihiko said, "I probably should take a look, I mean, you never know who you might…find…"

He probably dug his own hole with that.

There was a really hot girl in the other class. Really hot. As in, Arihiko thought she might be an idol or model at first. Long dark hair that seemed perfectly kept, absolutely perfect skin, and a slender, fit figure—particularly her sculpted legs.

Arihiko did not realize he was actually rather taken with her until Shiki managed to twist out of his hold and he felt disinclined to pursue.

"That look," Satsuki said, her voice unusually deadpan, "it's the scary look. Tohno-kun, you should do something about it."

"I'll find out her name and use her to crush his dreams," Shiki coughed.

For a moment, Arihiko thought it funny that the player in the Fuyuki class would be hitting on girls in his class when they had someone like that in their midst—only to then spot the girl lean up and say something into the ear of the only other redhead present among the two classes. It was innocent enough, though the easy way she did so and the way the guy grinned in return made their relationship obvious. So the player played because she was taken, and must have deemed the competition too close.

Well, Arihiko reasoned, at least he knew she liked redheads.

* * *

Arihiko was not the only person to notice the exchange between the Fuyuki class idol and the school's false janitor.

For the past few months, Ayako had watched Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya with more and more attentiveness. Neither had said anything, both were nominally single, and the status quo of their year at Homurahara was just as before. However, since their senior year had started, Ayako had begun to notice it: a look here, a smile there, a quick conversation, occasional lapses in concentration from both parties. Ayako's attempts at bringing up the subject—along with the bet she had once made with Rin—had come up to a stone wall.

"What? I can be nice to the guy, you know," Rin had said when she had once tried to bring up the subject. "He does a lot of favors for the student council. Meanwhile, Ryuudou-kun is always so terse with me, I can't just pass along the appreciation."

It was a sensible response. Proper. Thoughtful.

Entirely not the Rin Tohsaka that Ayako had come to know as school went on.

That was part of the awareness she probably had going for her. Here and there, it seemed as if Shirou were aware of something lurking beneath Rin's persona if his expressions and occasional comments were to be examined. It meant he sometimes laughed or frowned at things only Ayako had been able to pick out within their class about the school idol.

"Well, if you ever get a chance, you should help me corner him back into the Archery Club," Ayako had responded. "I may have passed on captaincy, but the guy belongs with us." She had managed to keep the grin off her face when she added, "Too, we really need to get Sakura to confess to the guy before we're all graduated."

It was so absolutely faint Ayako was still considering it _might_ just have been her imagination, but she thought she had caught Rin's left eyebrow twitch faintly at that.

The fortunate thing about their senior year was they had all been grouped together—all of them with interests in going to a university or overseas study. Watching Rin for any further signs of weakness was easy for it…

"It is almost dinner time, so perhaps we could all eat together? We should get along with our temporary neighbors if we do end up sharing close quarters," Shinji Matou was saying to the latest group of girls. He had mingled with the vast majority of the Misaki class but had returned to the forefront group that apparently included their class representative. "I'm sure we can all be on friendly terms with one another."

Of course, Ayako, Rin, and Shirou had to also put up with Shinji. Ayako herself was used to it from club, but it only served as a complication in her eyes. Around the same time she noticed Rin and Shirou's sudden closeness, Shinji had started acting a little nicer. The accident he was involved with had mostly gone unnoticed—their junior year had a lot of complications at the very end—and she had initially thought his change was from that. It was Sakura, though, that had made her question that, as Ayako had caught the younger Matou girl casting looks at both Rin and Shirou separately, and when in the presence of Shinji, her gaze would turn to him, and a look of relief would come to her.

Sakura apparently thought Rin and Shirou had something to do with Shinji's improvement, making Ayako instantly suspicious.

The complication truly twisted in on itself when it seemed that Shinji himself was a lot more quiet and withdrawn when Rin or Shirou were around. It meant that Ayako often found herself watching Shinji, like some kind of epiphany might present itself with whatever tangled web of relationships they might have made.

"There's something," Ayako said to herself, chewing on her thumbnail as she watched Shinji hit on the Misaki girls, "_something_, and I need to know, damn it all."

"You say something, Mitsuzuri?" Shirou asked.

The girl startled almost violently, pulling her hands behind her back. "Oh? Hah, no, nothing, just complaining. Shinji's going to get us all in trouble, I just know it." She eyed the chatty boy, then back to Shirou. The fake janitor of their school seemed to be distributing drinks retrieved from a vending machine to the rest of his class—entirely uncalled for, but very gopher-esque of him since some of them had been wondering aloud about dinner. He handed her a coffee drink she'd favored as club captain and she took it gratefully. "If I try and stop him, though, he'd probably turn it around on how I can't boss him around anymore since I'm not club captain anymore. You want to try?"

"I don't think he's really doing anything wrong," Shirou said. "Someone over there will call him out if he goes too far, right?"

"You're far more trusting than I am, Emiya."

Rin wandered over to them at that. "You still ought to do something. Ryuudou-kun seems to be trying everything, but he's not exactly a diplomat around Matou-kun." She already had a drink in her hand.

Ayako's suspicions came to the forefront again, though she had to curse at the fact that there was no confirmation. She and Rin had partnered up for the trip, so they of course would spend most of their time together. Too, Shirou was Issei Ryuudou's partner, so if the class rep was trying to handle a situation, it would be expected for Shirou to pitch in. And _everybody_ knew Shirou pitched in to help if he could.

In short, Rin's comment was just as offhand as anybody else's could have been, but Ayako could not help but notice more, plus the fact that he had already given her a drink meant they were together for a moment when out of her sight—

But it confirmed nothing!

"I'll get you yet," she muttered.

"Hmm?" Rin gave Ayako a sidelong glance, a bemused expression creeping up on her. "Get who? Matou-kun?" She leaned in. "You couldn't possibly be targeting him…?"

That was the crack in her idol armor that Ayako found to be more and more available; she was probably a mean-spirited girl beneath it all. Whenever it was about boys, Rin seemed to poke at Ayako like she was an archer out to hunt her prey, and those metaphors only came up after turning over her captaincy. "Shinji? No way." She leaned toward Rin in return. "Actually, I'd be far more interested in _Shirou_ if I'm gonna be honest about it."

Said boy was, despite his words, returning to Issei's side and looked like he might be formulating ideas about quieting Shinji. Ayako watched him as if she might be a little love-struck, admiring the fact that he certainly did seem to have an odd archer-like elegance to his movements even now, then tried to catch Rin's reaction out of the corner of her eye.

She was underwhelmed by the thoughtful look Rin had on. "I suppose they are on opposite sides of the coin. Matou-kun might be the kind to sweep you off your feet; Emiya-kun is like a loyal puppy that would do anything for you." A thin-lipped smile crept out. "So, you want a loyal servant over a prince, Mitsuzuri?"

Ayako scowled. This was not how this conversation was supposed to go. "Erm, well…I guess, when you put it like that…"

Rin's smile turned superior.

"What about you?" Ayako was determined to salvage something out of the conversation. "You want to be swept off your feet? Or have a loyal servant?"

The smile remained on Rin's face, though something about it went to a place Ayako could not quite follow, both sincere and yet mysterious at the same time. "Mmm, loyal servants are sometimes a little overrated."

Any further divining from Rin's words would have to wait; the chaperoning teachers from both classes finally removed themselves from the inn's office and approached the gathered students. "Everybody listen up!" they both called out.

Ayako tuned out most of the explanation—that the classes would both be using the inn, that space was now a little more cramped for it—and continued to watch Rin instead. Although she was loathe to admit to the idea that she was a hunter when it came to seeking out a potential boyfriend, when it came to her curiosity, she certainly did not know when to let up. In this case alone, it might be apt.

"Then we will be eating together! Well, that makes things _so_ much more entertaining," Shinji said as they gathered their things, loud enough that the Misaki class could hear him. Whether he was being sarcastic or not was unclear even to Ayako. "Emiya, you can do chores for twice as many people now!"

"I can't wait," Shirou said, dryly, though he did not deny such a thing.

Ayako thought Rin might have sighed a little harder than usual at that declaration.

* * *

To be continued.


	3. Test of Courage

Chapter 3

Test of Courage

* * *

With fifty students and two instructors, the inn's traditional dining area was a little cramped. The Misaki students were technically delegated to sit at the larger, Western-styled tables as their reservation had been made second, while the Fuyuki students were set up with the single-person trays; however, between Shinji Matou's smooth talking and some of his classmates' desire to avoid problems, the traditional singles tables were divided among the two.

"Just look at it this way," Issei Ryuudou said, "If he networks with students elsewhere, perhaps he will find it agreeable enough to pursue a career far away from the rest of us. You will never have to see him again."

Ayako gave the class rep a disbelieving look. "What is it like to be so optimistic? I'm not sure." Despite the fact that all the students had roughly the same meal and that she personally had no preference with eating arrangements, Ayako felt that being regulated to the Western-styled tables because of Shinji's womanizing was less than pleasant. Rin and Issei as student council representatives had lead the way in finding more agreeable circumstances for everyone, so they had volunteered their single-person tables; other Fuyuki classmates had followed suit.

"At least he's been doing it less and less back home," Shirou Emiya said. "I guess there could be a worse time for him to try and make up for it all. Like right before exams."

"What, are you one of those types that gets distracted and does badly at exam time, Emiya-kun?" Rin asked.

The only positive was how they had ended up positioned together, so Rin and Shirou sat opposite of one another along their table and Ayako could watch the both of them for any further incriminating signs.

Like the almost-dirty look Shirou gave the school idol.

Issei jumped ahead of any response that the redhead could have made, though, glaring fiercely at Rin. "I do not think that is any concern of yours, Tohsaka. Suffice it to say, I would not have the student council call upon his help if his grades suffered due to it." He crossed his arms and nodded. "I would think it obvious that my taste in friends would not suffer someone intellectually my inferior." He frowned and gave Shirou a corner-of-his-eye glance. "Although, perhaps your grade in English could improve…should I tutor you?"

Shirou frowned right back.

"I say that only because Fujimura-sensei regularly queries me about your academic performance." Issei shrugged. "She says you stonewall her on the topic, along with your future plans."

Ayako cut in at that. "You could always come back to the Archery Club so Fujimura-sensei stops bothering people. You'd have extra time to talk her down." She grinned at the timing. Anything to put Shirou on the back foot. He was a pushover when all things were equal.

Shirou did look thoroughly on the defensive, since everybody around decided it was time to bully him. "I get enough of that at home. So, the answer to all of that, in order, is no," he glared at Rin, "no," he glared at Issei, "and no," he glared at Ayako. His eyebrows looked ready to fuse together by the end.

Ayako's gaze zeroed in on the very tiny twitch from Rin's cheek. The school idol covered any further reaction by using that moment to make a dent into her food.

"Although I probably should work harder on English," Shirou admitted. "I hear London is an interesting place to visit."

The way Rin seemed to hiccup mid-swallow at his statement made Ayako doubly suspicious. She knew Shirou well enough to pick out when he decided to attempt craftiness and his words seemed to be timed specifically to trip Rin up.

"You intend to go abroad?" Issei asked, completely ignoring Rin's inelegant coughing as if it were a matter of course. "You have never expressed much interest before. At least, not in Europe."

"I don't know," Shirou said, "In the past few months the British Museum has sounded more and more interesting." He somehow seemed to brighten up at his own mention of the place. "I've, well, sort of gotten an internship offer there."

Rin tried to settle her problems with a drink of water.

"Really?" Issei looked intrigued. "How did you come by such a fortuitous circumstance?"

"Uh," Shirou lost his smile. Apparently, that was about as far as he had thought to reveal. "Uhhh…you see, my dad, he left me some things when I came of age, and his reputation abroad sort of helps, and…well…there might have been this nice girl that offered me an opportunity…"

Though Rin was now giving Shirou a look that probably said many different things in it, Ayako felt her attention wavering as thoughts unbridled came to mind. "Hey, wait, London you said?" Her own eyebrows narrowed as she groped around her memory. "Tohsaka, didn't you say something about London before? Like it was some kind of long-held dream?"

Rin's eyes widened. "That was—"

Whatever she intended to say was interrupted when Issei violently spun Shirou in his chair, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him violently back and forth. "I thought something was fishy! Emiya, you let it happen, didn't you?! That fox has cast her curse over you! You can't let it go this far! I cannot bear it! Repent, Emiya! Repent!"

Ayako thought that with how violent he was being rattled, Shirou's neck would snap at any moment. If his brain did not turn to paste before that.

The redhead was saved, however, in the form of Shinji Matou. Or at least Shinji Matou's big mouth.

"Just who do you think you're talkin' about?!" one of the Misaki students shouted, jumping to his feet and crossing over to where Shinji sat between two of the Misaki females.

Shinji only made that insufferable smile that often caused visible frustration in other males his age. "Now, now, I didn't say anything about you, just that if Katou here thought she could do for some maturity in—"

The student, a taller boy that looked rather athletic, managed to not go all the way and just deck the elder Matou. He did kick Shinji's tray, causing the mostly-uneaten food to spill all about the floor and Shinji's lap. The girls sitting to either side scurried away, while Shinji himself shot up to his feet out of reflex. It was far too late, however, as the miso soup and his drink had stained his right leg.

Good boys that they were, Issei and Shirou were both up and across the room like lightning to blockade an escalation in the situation. Two of the Misaki students got up as well, putting hands on their friend's shoulders. Shinji, for his part, just looked miffed. "Thank you for _brilliantly_ proving the point I was making." He then fixed Issei and Shirou with an equally-annoyed expression, one that Ayako was _quite_ familiar with: _Like I would need your help_.

Ayako just thought Shinji might be a lucky sort, to always be picking fights with guys that didn't go straight for the jugular. She understood that Shirou had once given him a punch, but she believed that if both of the boys really wanted to, they'd have beaten each other into a mess. Neither one seemed like they were likely to cut loose on someone they were once close to.

Although it could still be summed up, their attitudes, all of them:

"Boys," Ayako muttered. She heard Rin sigh at the exact same time, long and drawn out, as if she were about to say the same.

Itou, the Fuyuki teacher, was fast into the room at the commotion. Though slight and approaching the twilight years of middle age, the woman had a headstrong presence that managed to cow most of the students in line. Even if she was not the hothead that Taiga Fujimura was known to be. "Just what is going on here?"

Shirou and Issei, of course, were immediately trying to smooth things over while the two instigators of the situation glowered at each other. Issei said, "We were just addressing some, ah, issues standing between our classes. Perhaps a sense of rivalry due to our similar ages and school spirit? It must be the restlessness from travel."

Ayako briefly went over that in her mind, deciding that if spirit = skirts, it might be an apt way to put it.

"And, uh," Shirou stuttered when Issei looked his way for backup, "we were kind of egging each other on, and it got a bit out of hand? No harm done, just got a little too…worked up?"

The old instructor looked like she was only partially buying it—which was only fitting since the boys were only partially telling the truth. Itou was, however, the kind of teacher that let their students dig their own holes if they asked for it. "I see. Egging each other on over what?"

It was at that point that both boys looked at the end of their current thought process, as Issei went to fiddling with his glasses and Shirou developed a rather vacant look on his face. Normally, Ayako thought that Shinji himself would smooth things over, but the boy seemed to be too busy seething at both the unwanted help and the guy responsible for dirtying his clothes.

Rin looked somewhat amused by it all, but decided to stick her neck out before the diplomats could get theirs metaphorically lobbed off. "It sounded like a challenge to me, sensei. The forest out back is spooky-looking and they were discussing the merits of each class' ability to weather a trip through it." Ayako thought it carefully worded, since Rin implied she was passive in the matter, listening in, and _they were discussing_ would have been referring to the standing boys. It allowed the teacher to build up her own conclusions regarding what was going on—probably that the boys were trying to act macho.

While that might have simply worked fine with someone like Taiga Fujimura, this instructor seemed to instead play along, upping the stakes. "Then perhaps you would like to see to it that this challenge is carried through, Tohsaka-san? I will speak with my fellow about you Misaki students if this is indeed where things can be decided?" She gave an imperious tilt of her chin and the faintest signs of a smile could be seen. "Once everyone is finished eating, of course?"

Rin frowned. "I…suppose I could do that." She was now eyeing the three boys from her class, not quite a glare.

"Uh, yeah, that sounds great," Shirou immediately jumped in, though his voice did not match his words. "I mean, right? A fair competition to settle things?" He was now looking at the boy that had kicked Shinji's tray and seemed to be trying desperately not to look in Rin and Ayako's direction. "Get some fresh air, too, after being all together like this?"

"A…fair point," Issei said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

There was a kind of broken murmur amidst the different students: girls mostly complaining that they did not want to do this sort of thing, boys either agreeing or caught up in the pissing contest that had unfolded before them. Ayako grinned, hiding it behind bridged hands—Shirou just did not have the kind of charisma to convince people of his cause. Issei might, but he sounded displeased at having to go along with an idea that Rin spoke of.

"Yeah, lets go with the old-fashioned guys and their springtime of youth clichés, it'll fix everything right up," a dark-haired boy with glasses said from the Misaki crowd, kitty-corner in the room to Shinji and them. He seemed equal parts disinterested and sarcastic.

Of course, that might have been the very thing to fire up the other boys and some of the girls in Ayako's class. Though many of the boys might not rise to Shinji Matou's defense, Issei was a popular enough guy to be friendly with and Shirou regularly did favors for various people. The girls, too, tended to favor at least one of the three.

Although, as Ayako thought about going out into the forest on some lame challenge that nobody initially wanted to do, all just because Shinji Matou was thinking with what was in his pants, she started to imagine using the time to pop the back of the playboy's head with her fist.

The murmuring on the Fuyuki side started to waver toward responding to the smart remark from the Misaki boy. They all seemed to turn their gaze to Rin, the directions from Itou-sensei suggesting Rin would be organizing things from her end.

Rin gave them a reassuring smile. "Lets finish our meal and we can figure out details from there." She turned the smile toward the standing boys.

Even the ones that did not know her seemed to wilt ever-so-slightly.

* * *

"This sucks," Arihiko said for the fifth time.

He and Satsuki waited in the cluster of students that had yet to venture out into the woods, fidgeting with the flashlights given to them. While some of their classmates were taking turns attempting to psych the others out with ghost stories or taunts, Arihiko—one of the few paired with the opposite gender—both did not feel like worsening Satsuki's mood, even if it meant he might feel better.

Where Shiki was in all of this, he'd not been able to figure out. He had the sneaking suspicion the boy had escaped the organization chaos that had followed the challenge decision, using the way that nobody paid attention to him if they could help it to his advantage. Since the inn had landline phones, he thought Shiki might have been the whipped dog that he was to call home to his master.

The doubly-annoying thing was that Nanako, still silent the vast majority of the time since promising to come along on the trip, would give him sly grins here and there, like she had some kind of bad idea in mind now that he was without backup and out where everyone would be isolated from both each other and society in general. Since Satsuki could not see her, Arihiko simply ignored it as much as he could, but he could not shake that suspicious feeling.

Especially when her tail wagged.

"Takenashi, Endoh, you're next." Ijima, the Misaki class rep kept the students entering the forest at staggered intervals. He would occasionally check his phone for mail from the students that had set up the finish line and what the status of everybody was from that.

Arihiko really pitied the students that were actually frightened by a wooded area so close to actual civilization. Or the guys that were constantly teasing some of the girls and would so obviously not be getting lucky anytime during this trip. "You'd think that after what got us all into this mess, they'd know to shut the hell up."

Satsuki gave a nervous laugh. "I don't know, some of the others actually like the teasing. I mean, didn't you ever do this as a kid?"

"I guess," Arihiko said. Though his mind briefly wandered to thoughts of another class trip and real, actual scary situations. "But if they want to be all buddy-buddy, they'd probably do better to zip it. It's not like half the teams aren't just you girls all going together like whenever you all take quests to the bathroom together anyway."

"You make it sound so grand."

"If I wanted a girl to go around with me out here so I could show off, constantly bugging them about scary crap would not be how I'd do it." He blinked, then relented, grinning. "Not that I can't hang out with you, Yumizuka, but you know what I mean."

She halfway glared, halfway pouted. "I'm not a girl? Or that you don't want me around?"

"I said you know what I mean."

"I wonder where Tohno-kun ran off to," the girl lamented, completely changing the subject. Or not, if she was feeling unwanted.

"I don't know, but the guy sure is smooth. Gets in a jab at those guys from Fuyuki, then gets under cover where nobody but us'd go looking. Bastard." He did think it was likely for Shiki to be contacting Ciel, but he thought Satsuki might not want to hear about that. The girl got oddly depressed about it sometimes.

Arihiko did too, for other reasons.

"Hee," Nanako tittered at that exact moment, circling unseen around class rep Ijima as he looked to his phone.

"Yumizuka and Inui."

Arihiko tapped the crown of his head with the flashlight. "Urgh.

"Let's just get done fast and then we can go back inside sooner," Satsuki said. "I don't know about you, but this place is kind of creeping me out. It's like it's watching us."

The redhead gave the girl an even stare. "Just so you know, you can't actually creep me out as revenge for all girl-dom."

* * *

Ayako had a plan. It was simple, to the point, and made all this Shinji-related trouble worth it to her.

It had not escaped her notice that among the four that had gone to the so-called finish line for the courage challenge, Rin had volunteered herself and Shirou for the duty. It made sense for her—she was left responsible for the situation, and it made a certain amount of sense that Fuyuki's false janitor would be around to handle whatever logistical issues she'd need done.

But she also had paid close attention to the guy at the start area that was calling out names, how he frowned at his phone. When it was her turn to go, she had asked him as casually as she could if there was something wrong—and he had responded in such an interesting way.

"Your classmates ditched the guys on the other side. They said to go patrol the forest so nobody got lost." He did not sound like he believed it.

Ayako had reassured him and her partner, Yukika, agreed shyly: Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya were diligent people that would not have jumped ship like he might believe.

Even as she said it, though, Ayako was smiling.

She started them at a fair clip into the woods, Yukika worried about how fast they were going, but it was all so very perfect. Kaede's team had gone right before them, so Ayako figured that they would not be much further ahead—and she was right. It took them all but two minutes to catch up, the track team duo having also met up with another pair of girls as if it were a plan to make a larger party out of the trip none of them seemed to want to take.

"I'm gonna go off ahead," Ayako said. "Tohsaka and Emiya could probably use some help." She made it sound as if her help were reluctant and her statement filled with much suffering.

"If you see Shinji, drop kick him off a hilltop," Kaede said.

Ayako nodded. Shinji and Issei—paired off because the student council president refused to let the boy cause any more trouble—had gone off ahead as one of the first in. Ayako admitted that if she did come across them first, she might do just that.

* * *

To be continued.


	4. Went Left

Sorry for the delay. Been busy. As I tell people on Beast's Lair, however, I don't let stories that I've started die. If I post a chapter for others to see, I have the entire story fully plotted at the very least.

Forgot to note, this story is dedicated to my friend Brittany, who once told me specifically "remind me not to go left" when she was playing _Baldur's Gate II_, only to end up accidentally going left anyway despite the warnings and end up massacred by Mind Flayers for a second time.

* * *

Chapter 4

Went Left

* * *

"No, I'm not going that way."

If one were to venture out into this forest unwillingly, it would make perfect sense. The path through the bushes came to a fork where it branched off in three directions. The one going right was both the most worn and clearly made for civilization once more with lights glimpsed beyond the tree line. The one going straight forward also looked worn, with a glade within view from the divergence. The path on the left looked more like an animal path, barely visible amidst the weeds and brush, plus no light could be viewed in that direction. Between the moonlight fading randomly behind cloud cover and no signs of human presence, the left pathway just evoked a feeling of superstitious dread from the average person.

Issei Ryuudou was not an average person by any stretch of the imagination. Nor was his logic.

After all, was this not the purpose, to test one's courage? Was it not a part of his duty, not just as a class leader, but as a young man to push that to its very limit?

When told of this location out in the woods, it was obvious to the ones organizing it that this would be an important spot: after nearly half an hour out in the middle of nowhere, disconnected from the rest, it would be the perfect place for the other students to tease one another and do what was required by their underdeveloped brains. They would harass and harangue their peers over not stepping foot in the scarier direction, then make jokes about it on the way back. It was not just expected, it was necessary for a situation like this.

But for Issei and his partner, it was an opportunity. He would force Shinji Matou down that path for a little while, trouble the troublemaker for a while, and hopefully drive it into the young man's skull that it was his own doing that led him out into an unwanted situation. A well-deserved punishment, without being a punishment in name. It had the benefit of possibly tiring the playboy out as well, leaving him less likely to cause more difficulty for the remainder of the night.

He would do this all effortlessly, if Shinji would only cooperate.

"This is the direction we are to take," Issei said. It was not a lie—since he had planned from the beginning for the two of them to diverge from the path given to the others.

"Then you're blind even with those glasses," Shinji said. He tipped his head in the other direction as if unwilling to expend any further energy. "That's the way back. You're standing on a goat path or something."

Perhaps, Issei decided, he was going about this the wrong way. It was customary to fulfill the obligations of youth, was it not? "Oho. Perhaps I have found a weakness in that impenetrable personality. Are you _frightened_, Matou-kun?"

Shinji's eyes narrowed, adding to an expression that could only be interpreted one way: he was about a hair's breadth from strangling the monk. "No, you stupid four-eyed suck-up, I want to get done with this stupid game as soon as possible, and wandering into some stupid place in the middle of some stupid forest is not part of it, no matter how much stupid your stupid mind can conjure up."

Issei scowled, changed tactics. He motioned down the unused path like a chauffeur. "If you take this route with me, I will give you less concern for the remainder of the evening and tomorrow—as long as we are to share space with the other students."

For a moment, Shinji's expression seemed aghast—probably imagining Issei bothering him far into the night and hovering over him in the morning during breakfast. Whatever conclusion came to his mind was very displeasing. "Why?" Shinji's scowl would have been intimidating if not for the fact that Issei still had height on him. "It isn't part of the deal, going off in a different direction. We'll just get to the end and be the good little boys that you want us to be, eh?"

"Since we went early, we would finish before everyone else and your personality would once again cause trouble," Issei said, his didactic tone making his statement sound like the most obvious thing in the world. "I do not wish for these festivities to be once more coerced by your terrible attitude, so we will take a long detour and finish later than most. It will be your penance for causing so much difficulty for everyone."

"Drag around that pinhead that started all of this. I didn't _cause_ anything."

Issei sighed, as if his statement should be blatantly obvious. "You know very well that your actions antagonized the other party. Even if you are not actively causing problems, your passive issues bring antagonism before you. Then you attempt to get out of obligations whenever possible, earned or unearned. Whether it be duties after class, or that one time you were supposed to stay after for punishment."

Shinji looked entirely miffed. "I always get someone to fill in for me when that happens. And that one time you're talking about, I did exactly what they told me to."

"When you are given the instructions 'write twenty pages of kanji,' the instructor does not actually mean for you to write the words 'twenty pages of kanji' and turn it in."

"Oh lighten up. Endo-sensei thought that was hilarious."

"And I believe it would be hilarious if you followed me down this path!" Issei said.

Buzzing insects kept it from going completely silent for a long moment. Shinji's caustic tone eventually broke through. "Ryuudou, the day you have a sense of humor, I'll run naked through school."

"That would be against policy and a criminal act on top of it!"

The little shake-jerk of the head Shinji involuntarily gave stood in for any response. He seemed to be in physical pain. "Alright, if it will shut you up and I can be rid of you for the rest of the night, _fine_. Get your damn flashlight, lead me down the path, _goat-herder_, and then after a minute I'll pretend to be scared like some five year old girl and you can lead me back out like the manly man you _aren't _and we'll have wasted less time than we've spent _right here with your stupidity_." He followed up with the kind of sneer he had not shown for many months. "And when that idiot that really did cause this does it again, you'd better get it in your head that this is pointless."

As if oblivious to the insults, Issei said, "Thank you," and did just that, switching on the flashlight he used earlier and had switched off to conserve battery power. Ignoring the loathsome look from his peer, he motioned for Shinji to follow him into the denser foliage.

Shinji made to look at the heavens as if to rage at whatever deity was to be watching them but was met only with a breezeless forest canopy.

* * *

From beneath the eaves of a large older tree, a pair of eyes tracked the boys suspiciously.

Ayako watched the boys venture off the given directions, curious as to their intentions. From what the hotel workers had said about the forest, the only thing they would find that way was a dead-end path and an old farmhouse nobody used anymore.

"If it were a different pair, maybe," Ayako muttered to herself. Sometimes…well, most of the time, she was certain Issei played catcher for the other team, but she was also pretty sure that he and Shinji truly despised one another. Really, she could not conjure up any other ideas between the two. Ayako considered herself rather open-minded, but the image of those two together simply violated her basic sanity.

The thought had occurred to her—and probably other couples in the class—that the seclusion just off the path they'd chosen might be a good hiding place if people wanted some privacy. What would stop them was the creepy, deserted presence out in the middle of unfamiliar territory, a deal-breaker to the superstitious lot that made up the vast majority of her class. A feeling she was pretty sure no couple present was willing to exchange for some alone time…

Unless…they were Rin Tohsaka and Shirou Emiya. Rin might just be stubborn enough, Shirou might just be enough of a yes-man.

The thought of catching them sneaking off, under cover of "helping arrange everything" overrode Ayako's other ideas, including her better judgment of her friends' nature. Despite saying earlier how diligent they were. Despite knowing they were unlikely to care for that kind of tryst. Despite that she still had no proof they were even a thing. In fact, it helped cement the idea of why Shinji and Issei were heading off on their own, since Issei was pretty protective of Shirou and Ayako knew that Shinji, like most of the boys in the class, was sweet on Rin.

"Convinced Shinji to help him check up on the two?" It made enough sense.

It might, just _might_ make up for all the trouble Shinji had brought on them. It might even be funny to witness: Issei's predictable meltdown and Shinji's scathing reaction. Ayako herself could not think up what Rin and Shirou themselves would do. Denial, embarrassment, frothing rage…

Nor did it occur to the girl just what, exactly, she was supposed to do upon uncovering it—after all, even if she caught Rin red-handed, it still meant Ayako was the loser of their little bet.

* * *

"All the search party could find remaining was the girl's hand!"

Satsuki eyed Arihiko through the evening's gloom with an expression somewhere between boredom and absolute blandness. "Is that it?"

"You aint afraid of sharks?"

"Not in public swimming pools."

The duo had passed some of their classmates on the way through the forest, chatting normally and otherwise unperturbed where their peers nervously shuffled around or moved from end to end as fast as legs would take them. More of a concern was the occasional insect that buzzed about Arihiko, oddly taken with something about the boy; Satsuki they completely ignored.

"Aww, c'mon, it never even frightened you as a kid? Jumping into something deep where you can't see all the way to the bottom?"

Satsuki sighed. "You're not good at scary stories, are you?"

The problem with their pace and their banter was it had taken them far from the other groups—leaving the duo bored. Arihiko was absolutely unimpressed with their surroundings and Satsuki had since learned many, many scarier things than a pathway where a bunch of kids were passing through. The occasional flash of light between trees—the signs of their peers ahead or behind them—made it further impossible to frighten them.

"Okay, so, try this. Two guys decide they can take their pick out of a variety of girls, so one day they…"

About ten minutes in, Arihiko seemed so bored that he decided to do the very thing he was berating the other boys for earlier and attempted to tell a scary story. Where stories might actually see fit to frighten the girl since her imagination could take over, the redheaded boy proved completely inept at maintaining a sense of tension in his telling; he was simply too easygoing to be around that his personality stole any mood he tried to add. That plus his lousy choices in story.

Stories about ghosts that inhabit forests or suicide pacts in the middle of nowhere might work. Stories about girls being eaten by sharks in public pools or in landlocked upper-story buildings did not. Satsuki wondered what his obsession with sharks was anyway.

"But then they find it in their breakfast the next day—"

"Have you ever watched something like _The Ring_? That sort of thing is way more scary."

Arihiko thought about it. His eyes darted one way, then quickly away, as if he did not want someone to notice him looking. "That's…the one about the girl crawling outta the TV, right?"

He probably thought Satsuki did not notice. Every once in a while he would act strangely, like he was catching himself staring at something nobody was supposed to see, hearing things nobody else could make out.

Of course, the thing was, Satsuki _could_ see the spirit that was further down the path. She had seen it tailing Shiki and Arihiko since the train, but had not said anything. The fact that Shiki was unaware of or ignored the spirit meant that she did not want to bring up a strange or sour point to the boy, so she pretended as if she was unaware. The last thing she wanted was for Shiki to think she was somehow strange.

"Um, are we supposed to go that way?"

Arihiko took a look around, apparently only realizing it when she pointed it out: he had wandered out into a thicker, more overgrown area with the path under his feet barely visible. Satsuki stood at a split in the path they had been on, glancing back down the way they came then back up to her partner. "Isn't this the way?"

"I think we're supposed to go that way." Satsuki motioned to her right.

"Oh." He shrugged, turned back the way he had been going. "Then lemme just…er…hm." He peered further down that track, scanning for something.

Satsuki thought she knew—the little spirit girl had wandered further ahead and was already out of sight. "You want to see what's up there?" she let herself say, giving him the opening he seemed to lack.

"Yeah. Kinda strange looking, all this growth. I'd swear there's an abandoned farm cart up here or something."

They followed the path for a short while, Arihiko letting himself get a bit further away from his classmate, probably to see if he could somehow catch the spirit girl without Satsuki noticing. Pretending not to care, Satsuki followed after, frowning at her surroundings now that she took a better look around.

For some reason, something felt off about this way, even just a short distance away from the path they had been on.

Only a couple minutes elapsed when the path made a hard curve. Arihiko was not paying enough attention to the sounds that issued from that blind turn and when he rounded it nearly crashed into a figure making his way back out: the flirty troublemaker from Fuyuki that had contributed to this trek in the first place.

"Ah, watch it!" Arihiko shouted, reflexively. He stumbled off into the grass a bit while the wavy-haired boy spun on his heel.

"We're going back, right now," the Fuyuki boy said.

Another voice issued from around the bend; Satsuki trotted up to hear the response clearer. "Matou-kun, it has been not ten minutes. Try at least double that, please."

"No, I'm telling you, there's something wrong out here. We're heading back." He seemed only then to take notice of the guy he had nearly run into and Satsuki further back down the path. "All of us are."

"What's wrong?" Satsuki asked.

Arihiko managed to get the flashlight up to the boy's face just in time for a rather large roll of the eyes. "Eighteen things, one for each year this guy has been alive." He thumbed back up the path and Satsuki leaned around the bend to see the taller Fuyuki boy there, the class rep-type that wore glasses. "I think we ran across something like private property and we should get back down the main path now."

Satsuki's eyebrows shot up. Out this far, it didn't seem like there should be such a thing, and she had not seen any markers. "What're you talking about?"

The boy did not respond, however, as his eyes had fixed back behind her. When Satsuki turned to head to follow his gaze, she found they were not alone.

* * *

Near the far end of the course through the woods, idly watching some of the students on the last leg of the route, Rin Tohsaka felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

"Something wrong?" Shirou asked from beside her. Though he did not seem to be aware of any kind of change in the atmosphere, he seemed to be unconsciously looking in the direction she sensed a shift in the currents of power about the area.

"Maybe," Rin said.

* * *

Shinji Matou cursed his nonexistent luck.

The prickly feeling that he'd experienced the moment he'd stepped onto the path kept growing with each second—but he'd attributed it all to his annoyance with Issei. Now though, the odd throbbing sensation he got deep within his muscles whenever he passed the Tohsaka manor or even stepped into his own forsaken home flared up and he felt sick.

There was something back down the path, some meters behind the girl with twintails that had followed them up. It moved slowly, eerily like viewing through a short video missing frames, jerking forward at random points but never stumbling.

Then something else stepped out from the foliage nearby, also like the first, and a short, girlish shout rang out. From some meters ahead of that second figure, Ayako Mitsuzuri burst out from behind a tree and darted up toward them.

"Where—?" Issei said from behind Shinji. "Mitsuzuri-san?"

"Wh-what are they?" Ayako stuttered, actually running up past Shinji and placing the boys between her and the figures further down.

The redheaded boy that had stumbled up to them waved a flashlight in their direction.

They looked human in shape, but their faces were like out of surrealist art depicting death mask faces. Eyes that appeared like voids cast in swollen sockets peered at them, while lipless mouths gaped as if in a soundless scream. Their skin was sickly and the bits of moonlight piercing the canopy only heightened how pale they seemed, which was only then enhanced by bony limbs and necks that stretched out, coarse and brittle, like touching them would be touching sandstone. Somehow, the way they shambled through the kudzu overgrowth was the most unnerving thing, unhindered by any of the rough landscape.

A third figure emerged in the growth to the far right of the other two—where from was unclear, appearing as if blinking into existence.

"I…" Shinji started to say something, but clamped his mouth shut hard enough that his teeth clattered. Despite the emaciated, rough appearance these things had, the inhuman detail they added to something that otherwise evoked human bodies made the teen remember things he would rather leave far, far behind.

Two more figures materialized in the gloom, and the first three approached now within a handful of meters from where the teens all stood, oddly transfixed.

"H-hello?" Issei said, looking to the things in earnest. He swallowed loudly to clear the stutter in his voice. "Can we help you?"

Faster than a pouncing animal, one was before the clustered students, a withered hand clawing at Ayako as if to rip off her face.

Simultaneous screams filled the quiet forest.

* * *

_Kill it kill it kill it kill it kill it_

Shiki Tohno winced at the sudden dizziness that swept over him. Thankfully, he was still seated, the little phone booth he had found offering a nice, leather chair from which he had been convalescing from lack of Ciel contact.

"Tohno-kun?" the voice on the other end of the phone intoned.

"I feel kinda sick," he said.

* * *

Satsuki's scream was louder than the rest—but not nearly as terrified.

The people from Fuyuki all dove away from the grasping hands thrust before them, fight-or-flight responses kicking into action before their intellectual minds could muster a clear thought. The girl among them leaped the furthest, screaming all the while, rolling into the dirt alongside the troublemaking boy. The one with glasses ducked in place, tucking his head beneath his arms as if taking cover under a school desk as was often taught in earthquake response.

All three missed the momentary change in atmosphere. Difficult to see in the dark, impossible to see when fearsome creatures are lunging like predators at them. Plants gave up their healthy color, the air went absolutely still, even the pressure changed within everyone's lungs.

The creatures closest to the students crumbled to an ash-like dust.

The forms further back took pause, their inhuman expressions for one brief moment conveying very human confusion.

Arihiko was not watching the strange figures, however. The redhead was staring at a vacant space off the path and his eyes widened at some unseen sense of horror. "Run!" he shouted, taking off himself before he was even finished.

The three from Fuyuki seemed to take that in place of their nonfunctioning minds and took off in his wake. Satsuki waited for them to pass, peering out over the creatures that still remained.

For a split second, the girl's expression became somehow more feral, more animalistic than the strange, revolting death masks the creatures wore.

Then she took off after her peers.

* * *

They ran deeper into the forest, deeper down the unused trail, deeper into the trees and bushes such that it seemed their only source of light was the flashlights some carried.

They were not alone. The death-mask-like beings were following, rustling the leaves and branches as they went yet somehow not seeming to touch the ground they passed over, like wind disturbing the forest in its passage through.

They tried screaming. Shouting for help. Waving their flashlights. Had they been on the main path, they would surely have been heard or seen by their others. Each step they made took them further from their fellows, however, and even before, merely a few dozen meters in, it had seemed like they were cut off more from the others somehow.

A creature just barely missed grabbing the Fuyuki girl by the ankles, diving past her in ambush. The earth where she had been flew up into the air, almost like a squib explosion.

One of the Fuyuki boys—the one with glasses—cut his face on a branch and knocked his spectacles askew. The girl kicked an upraised root and hissed in pain. Both kept up with the rest, even as Arihiko tore through the growth and paced them still faster.

"Is that a house?!" Satsuki shouted from the rear, sounding very relieved.

Up ahead, the others peered to where Arihiko led them, and just barely through the gloom and shadows they could make out the vaguely manmade shape.

"Maybe we can—" the troublemaking boy from Fuyuki spared a glance back and even in the darkness Satsuki could make out the whites of his eyes, "—shit shit shit, faster!"

The others followed his lead, looking over their shoulders to find the inhuman creatures still in pursuit, some of them now leaping from branches like swordsmen in Chinese wuxia film.

When they turned back, blood pumping fast enough for a second wind, the sight they beheld was not comforting. The building they had spied was now truly taking shape and it seemed only more unsettling than the creatures giving chase.

If there could be the encyclopedic entry for a haunted house, this would look right at home next to the entry. Not merely old and rotting, the two-story building seemed to lean to one side yet unnaturally stay erect. Two of the front windows seemed to be spilling kudzu or other vine plants outwards and in the gloom the flora gave off nearly human shadows, granting the face of the house the appearance of eyes crying hanging bodies. Parts of the roof appeared caved in, though no trees appeared over the building to suggest what had caused such damage. A fountain in front of the building, whether by design or happenstance had crumbled away such that the second tier of the feature no longer looked like a bowl and instead appeared like a Christian crucifix gravestone.

Even to Satsuki, such a thing was instantly unnerving, rising gooseflesh up her arms.

"Are you crazy?!" The Fuyuki girl hissed. "You want to run into _that_ thing?"

"I'd rather find cover than get caught out in the open by one of _those_ things!" Arihiko retorted. Just about the only thing about the house that did not look to be dying away were the double front doors, apparently made out of some rich wood that seemed untouched even from the distance they could view it from, and the boy was leading them straight for the entrance.

"We might find someone that can then call the proper authorities," the one with glasses said. "Or at least shelter to regain our wits." He seemed certain that there was some kind of explanation to the situation and that there would be an equally simple solution that would provide itself.

"My phone!" Satsuki gasped, fumbling for her pockets. She pulled the largest thing she had out and flipped it open—and her eyes dropped when she read what was on the screen.

She was about to raise that point when the wavy-haired troublemaker said, "Mine isn't working." He jammed the keys harder with his fingers. "Out of range my ass, you were working before!"

Satsuki bit her lip, suddenly reminded of a time and a promise she did not want to be reminded of at the moment.

"Inside!" Arihiko shouted, ignoring whatever situation the others were bringing up. He was already breaking out into the courtyard-like space between trees and building, rounding the fountain.

The others followed, whether they thought it a good idea or not. To their left, one of those creatures broke from the tree line as well and charged straight for them.

Satsuki didn't know what the others saw—or if they were paying attention at all, even, as more rustled the forest noisily behind them. The death-like creature swept across the courtyard and made for one of the Fuyuki boys, but out of nowhere the tiny girl spirit that had been with Arihiko all evening appeared, galloping across the courtyard from the opposite side on all fours. She body-checked the dead figure and sent it sprawling, and Satsuki thought the noise following behind her suddenly went quiet, unsure.

Arihiko made it to the building doors, wrenching one side open when he found it was unlocked. The three from Fuyuki dove in the moment he had it wide enough, and Satsuki followed when she saw the spirit-girl get up and make for the doors as well.

Within, a very Western-styled house that reminded Satsuki of the one time she had been allowed to visit the Tohno estate, though not nearly as opulent or maintained. While a large staircase was immediately evident in the foyer they found themselves in, Satsuki could not make out any decorations—just plain, antiseptic walls.

Arihiko shoved the door closed behind them, and for a moment the only noise was the sound of panting as the teens all tried to regain their breath.

Then a violent shudder struck the door, flinging it partially open and throwing Arihiko to the floor.

Satsuki fell to her knees to grab for the boy, and the Fuyuki students all flinched, then scrambled over to the door—

Despite the horror movie-expectation to have those things grasping and groping for them just beyond the ajar door, nothing was there. The Fuyuki girl was the one to cautiously peek out at an angle to look about, but nothing but an empty porch and courtyard met her gaze.

Which seemed to suit her just fine, as the girl then pulled the door closed again and setting the latch there to lock.

Again, no sound but harsh breathing. Arihiko, along with the Fuyuki girl and the boy with glasses all then waved their flashlights around to get a better look at their surroundings.

"Freaked out now, good job Tohsaka," the Fuyuki girl said.

It was at this point that all three flashlights went out, simultaneously, flickering once before snuffing out completely in a synchronized moment, stranding them in the pitch black.

"We're _so_ going to die," Arihiko said from the floor.

* * *

To be continued.


End file.
